thetorydiary: Labour incompetence

Labour incompetence

Thursday, December 10, 2009

David Cameron compares Brown and Darling to joy-riders smashing up the (economic) neighbourhood

David Cameron has today launched one of his most hard-hitting attacks yet on the Government, comparing Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling and their handling of the economy to joy-riders "smashing up the neighbourhood".

Speaking to activists at CCHQ, he asserted that Labour have now "lost all right to govern" in the wake of the Pre-Budget Report, accusing them of "irresponsibility, basic deceit and a complete lack of moral principle".

He said:

"I think the Labour Party should be haunted for a decade by what we saw yesterday in terms of irresponsibility, basic deceit and complete lack of moral principle. If anyone needed one more reason to say we need to get rid of this bunch of Labour politicians running our country, yesterday gave every reason that was needed. This country is crying out for change now. We have got to bring that change about."
"Brown and Darling are like a couple of joy-riders in a car smashing up the neighbourhood, not caring what is going to happen and not caring about anyone who might have to take over the mess they have created... They showed no care for the risks they are running with interest rates, the risks they are running for future taxes, the risks they are running in terms of racking up debts for our children."

He said that "the most deceitful act of all" was "to say in your budget statement that you are increasing benefits for some of the most vulnerable people in our country like the disabled, without saying that you have a plan to cut those benefits the year after the election". IN that respect, he compared the Chancellor "some dodgy timeshare salesman who, if they behaved like that, would end up in court."

He concluded:

"At heart, I think there is a sacred trust that every politician should have, which is that if you are at the tiller and the crunch comes, you do the right thing for your country. You put aside personal considerations and political considerations and you do the right thing. Yesterday they did the wrong thing. Confronted with this budget deficit, confronted with the problems, they put their own political fortunes ahead of the fortunes of our country. We have got a few months to get rid of a bunch of politicians who I think have lost the right to govern."

> Earlier in the day the party launched a new poster highlighting the debt Labour has heaped upon everyone in the country, whilst Greg Hands has pointed out that Britain's economic position is now being mocked by the Germans.

> News also comes tonight of a new poll from Angus Reid Strategies for Political Betting which puts the Conservatives on 40%, 17 points ahead of Labour on 23% - the fieldwork for which began on Tuesday and continued until earlier today.

Jonathan Isaby

Posted at 17:10 in Economic policy, Labour incompetence, Tax and spending | Permalink | Comments (15)

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Grayling accuses Brown of attempting to "whitewash" Baroness Scotland's employment of illegal housekeeper

Scroll down for Monday update

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The Mail on Sunday has an exclusive interview with Baroness Scotland's former housekeeper this morning.

It reveals:

"Cleaner got job in ten-minute interview with 'no questions about whether she was eligible to work in the UK'
The Attorney General's housekeeper 'didn't have ANY of the 6 documents that entitled her to work in Britain'
She had already been working here illegally for four years
She was paid just £6 an hour - 33 per cent below the going rate in London and just 27p above the national minimum wage."

Read the full story.

Chris Grayling has issued this statement:

"This unedifying row just underlines why Baroness Scotland's position is now completely untenable. But it also raises huge question marks over the way the Home Office and the Prime Minister have handled the case. The Home Office rushed through an investigation without listening to all the evidence, and the Prime Minister exonerated Lady Scotland before the housekeeper had even been questioned. This is increasingly looking like an attempted whitewash that has gone badly wrong."

Conservatives are convinced that this story is highly damaging to Labour and cannot believe that Gordon Brown has allowed the row to rumble along into the start of Labour's Conference week. They believe that the combination of ministerial incompetence, illegal immigration and insight into a politicians' home life is very damaging for Labour.

Tim Montgomerie

Monday update:

Chris Grayling has today written to Home Secretary Alan Johnson demanding that the investigation into the matter be re-opened so that Baroness Scotland's former housekeeper can be interviewed. He said:

“The more we hear about what happened last week the clearer it becomes that this was an investigation rushed through under fierce political pressure and it has failed to do the job properly. The borders agency could not have possibly been in a position to mount a full investigation without interviewing Baroness Scotland’s housekeeper. It looks very likely that all of this was rushed through to avoid disrupting the Labour Party conference.”

And here is the text of his letter to Alan Johnson:

Continue reading "Grayling accuses Brown of attempting to "whitewash" Baroness Scotland's employment of illegal housekeeper" »

Posted at 08:33 in Immigration and asylum, Labour incompetence, Whiter than white? | Permalink | Comments (41)